Key Selling Points

• Introduces readers to STEM concepts, such as ecology and ecosystems, ecosystem services, biodiversity, ecological degradation, climate change, deforestation and how ecological restoration works. Also looks at the role ecological restoration can play in social issues such as fighting poverty and food insecurity.
• Readers will discover the importance of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and how Indigenous knowledge is key to understanding and restoring ecosystems.
• The United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration launched on June 5 (World Environment Day), 2021, in response to a proposal from more than 70 countries around the world. It encourages young people to become part of #GenerationRestoration.
• Features restoration projects in different ecosystems (e.g., forests, wetlands, grasslands, islands and marine ecosystems) around the world, such as the Great Green Wall in Africa (the world's largest ecological restoration project), the Ten Billion Tree Tsunami project in northwestern Pakistan (aiming to restore the region's forests and fight the effects of climate change) and the Maiden Island Reef in the Caribbean (the world's largest marine habitat restoration, including both coral reefs and mangrove habitat).
• The author has a diploma in the restoration of natural systems from the University of Victoria. She spoke with leading experts in the field of ecological restoration during her research for this book. She's published two Footprints titles with Orca, What's the Buzz? and Nature Out of Balance.

Merrie-Ellen Wilcox is a writer and editor in Victoria, British Columbia. She is the author of What's the Buzz?: Keeping Bees in Flight, which is part of the Orca Footprints series and After Life: Ways We Think About Death, which was short-listed for both the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award and the Norma Fleck Award. When several huge Garry oak trees were cut down at the end of her street to make way for a parking lot, she became a passionate defender of the trees and the ecosystem they are parts of. She studied ecological restoration at the University of Victoria and continues to naturescape her garden.

Merrie-Ellen Wilcox's profile page

Amanda Key is an illustrator and graphic designer from Nanaimo, British Columbia. Her art centers around the natural landscape of Vancouver Island and draws from her childhood spent finding flowers, hiking trails and spotting animals. With a strong focus on observation and natural science, each design piece offers a chance to learn a bit more about her surroundings.

Amanda Key's profile page